As none other I know how problematic it is to discuss matters related to politics on the web. However, every now and then, there's no way around it, and this is one of those moments. There's this thing going on at airports in the US, and while many will see it as a separate issue, the body scanner issue, and the sad stories it has spawned, are symptoms of a far larger problem that is a direct threat to everything we've fought for during and since the Enlightenment.

You could hide enough explosives to severely injure a bunch of passengers and / or damage the airplane in a laptop shell. The software / data from the laptop could contain information connecting you to some kind of terrorist cult.

Unfortunately, these options are only valid if our "terrorist" is utterly stupid. But you can never know right? You'll always be afraid of every suspicious box, bag, laptop, etc. Maybe it's just a regular box, maybe it's a few pounds of explosives or a deadly virus. But you can never know.

So you're always afraid. And you're so centered in this possible threat that you don't pay attention to other, smaller attack vectors. Until they use one of those vectors, so you shift your focus and leave something else unattended again. And you're always afraid.

They call it terrorism for a reason. And it seems to be working. It's horrible, but killing people with this method is just one part of the plan: Kill a few, scare millions for life is the real goal.